


not a thing that i would change

by daisyrachel



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Cute, M/M, five times fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 06:56:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13230375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisyrachel/pseuds/daisyrachel
Summary: five times ray's smile made leonard do something stupid, and the one time it didn't





	not a thing that i would change

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reedpayne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reedpayne/gifts).



> oh god i hope i got this dedication fic right. reed, this one is for you!! it was such a pleasure writing for you :) i loved every prompt you gave and i tried to incorporate them all and, well, it kind of gained a life of its own an went off the rails a little bit. whoops. i hope you enjoy it!!

**5**

Leonard could not stop thinking about that goddamn _smile_.

 

“I can’t believe you’re thinking of hooking up with the Englishman! We’re thieves, crooks, criminals!” Leonard sighed as he heard Mick bellowing from across the room. “I have _no_ desire to save the world. _Especially_ a hundred years after I’m dead!”

 

Mick was right. Leonard barely even knew the man, and he was so enraptured with him that he was gonna join a suicide mission just to get to know him?

 

“He said across time, Mick, so what about the years before? Before fingerprints and surveillance cameras, and DNA analysis. Why did we become criminals?”

 

The man in the suit wasn’t a criminal. What had his name been? Leonard couldn’t even remember, but he knew from the smile he was a hero, through and through.

 

“Because we hate working and we love money.”

 

Heroes didn’t often like criminals.

 

Leonard stood, moving to meet Mick a few feet away. “We could steal the Mona Lisa straight off Da Vinci’s easel, snatch the Hope Diamond before it was discovered. This is _everything_ we got into thieving for in the first place,” he said, “ _more_ than everything.”

 

Damn that man, with his _smile_ , and his _hair_.

 

Mick sighed and turned around. “You want me in, I’m in. But I’m not gonna be anyone’s hero.”

 

 _Greatness_ , the British man had said.

 

Then the man, Leonard’s man had smiled. _I can get behind that_.

**4**

After two months in close quarters with the man, Leonard had learned that Raymond was rather annoying. He had a major hero complex. He thought he had to be good to be worthwhile and looked down on the ship’s resident criminals for not being the same. He was overly optimistic, increasingly enthusiastic, and Leonard could not _stand_ the sound of his voice.

 

That didn’t stop Leonard from wanting to kiss that damn smile right off his face, though.

 

Hearing a sigh from beside him, Leonard turned to see Raymond somehow still looking attractive in a janitor’s jumpsuit, mumbling softly hoping the comms wouldn’t pick up his voice. “Because this is so much easier than just shrinking down and stealing it.”

 

Leonard heard the clacking of heels behind him and perked up. “Let me show you how it’s done,” he said to Raymond, “old school.” He dropped his mop, waiting for the officer to trip over it. He caught her in a dip before asking, “You okay, ma’am?”

 

Still parallel to the ground, she stumbled over and answer. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” He tossed her back up and spun her out, away from him. “Thank you,” she said, regarding him stiffly.

 

Leonard smiled. “Just doing my job.” As she walked away, he caught Raymond’s attention and flipped the ID card out of his pocket.

 

Raymond looked a little impressed. “That’s a nifty trick,” he said, smiling ever so slightly. Leonard felt his chest warm, and pulled out the wallet he had nabbed too, hoping he could make Ray smile a little wider. “Really?” came Ray’s response, “We’re trying to save the world and you’re lifting wallets?”

 

The feeling immediately decreased, reversed. A little bitterly, Leonard smirked and began to examine the card. “It’s called multitasking.”

**3**

As Leonard saw the gang approaching he raised his gun. Ray was an idiot for agreeing to this, but he absolutely was not going to tell him be killed for a stupid town in the Midwest.

 

Rip had told him not to start things with the gang, but Ray, deadest on being a hero, had _completely_ ignored their captain’s orders. Leonard had left the room, a little upset with Raymond for being so uncaring about his own life, but was quickly interrupted with a “Leonard, wait!”

 

Leonard turned around, impatience on his face. “Yes, boy scout?” he asked.

 

“Well,” Raymond started, “I’ve come up with a plan,”

 

“Probably a bad one.”

 

“Probably, yeah,” Ray accepted, “but it still has to be carried out. It involves a sniper, and a really good one.”

 

Leonard smirked. “You want me to get Brad Pitt?”

 

Ray grinned but sobered quickly. “Actually, I was thinking of you.”

 

“No, absolutely not,” said Leonard. “I will have no part in this plan that is surely a death trap.”

 

“Oh come one, please?” asked Ray. “You’re the only person who could do it, and I’m going to do it whether you accept or not.”

 

“You could get hurt,” said Leonard, in a rare moment of heartfelt sincerity.

 

Ray cocked his head a little confused. “If you’re there, there’s a much smaller chance of me getting hurt!” Leonard was about to refuse, but then Ray did it again. A sweet smile that reached just past his cheeks paired with a quiet “Please, Len,” and a hand on his shoulder.

 

Leonard tried his best not to shudder. “Okay, fine,” he agreed, “but you better not die.”

 

Leonard is brought back to reality, hearing Ray begin to talk with the gang. “John Wayne,” he said, “Salvation’s new sheriff. And this here town is under my protection.”

 

Stillwater smiled, letting every tooth in his mouth show. “Well you being new and all, you don’t know about the arrangement that we got. See me and my boys, we ride into town, we take whatever we want.”

 

Ray cocked his head in false curiosity. “In exchange for what?”

 

“Not killing nobody.” Stillwater and his cronies let out another large laugh.

 

Ray smirked and took a step forward. “Well that sounds reasonable and all,” he said, “but arrangement’s over.”

 

Stillwater chuckled. “Arrangements over boys.” The group laughed again, and Stillwater continued. “They teach you numbers where it is you’re from? Cause the way I see it there’s only one of you and a whole mess of us.” With that he drew his gun, and Len shot.

 

He heard the bullet flying through the air, a quiet whoosh. He prayed that it found its target safely, and on time. Then he heard the clank of metal on metal, and Stillwater yelped in pain.

 

Bull’s eye.

 

“You get out of town and you don’t come back,” Ray bluffed, “or the next bullet goes in your eye. I got sharpshooters all around. You really want to test me?”

 

Stillwater looked nervous for a moment. “Let’s ride boys,” he decided, motioning for the gang to turn around.

 

There were cheers as they rode out of town, and people were smiling, laughing, celebrating. Leonard could hear Mick whisper a “Nice, Haircut,” over the comms, because he was still shaking.

 

Because Ray had just had a gun drawn at him. Lovely, innocent Raymond, who was a boy scout and had grown up in the suburbs, who thought excitement was moving from Silicon Valley to Star City had just been held at gunpoint. Raymond, who had not grown up in a life of crime like Leonard had, who hadn’t grown up around weapons and danger and constant repeats of “you’ll be shot” had just a few moments ago, for a split second, been staring down the barrel of a gun, not knowing if Leonard’s shot would come through.

 

Ray had been one shot away from death, and he didn’t even flinch.

 

Ray, Leonard decided, had too much faith in him. He didn’t know why. _Maybe_ , the voice in the back of his head whispered, _maybe he feels the same way about you that you do about him_. Leonard let a warm feeling settle in his stomach for a moment before shaking it off. _No_ , he thought to himself, _that’s dangerous_.

 

He walked off the balcony, still shaking.

**2**

“If I’m going to die, there’s no use watching my diet!”

 

Leonard knew this tactic. He practically invented it. Ray was being humorous instead of coping, insisting that he could laugh off his highly possible death. Leonard could tell Ray knew deep down though; he was going around making peace with the teammates by giving hugs or mementos, something to remember him by.

 

It was when Ray got around to him that Leonard became worried.

 

“Len, wait!” Ray yelled, trying to catch up to him. Leonard took a moment to compose him and then spun on his heels. He looked at Ray inquisitively, not wanting to speak first. “Oh, right, um,” said Ray grabbing the back of his neck, “I’m just kind of talking… and I wanted to let you know… and I really think… just wanted to say… um—“

 

“Spit it out, Raymond,” said Leonard, a little more maliciously than he had intended. He knew this speech was going to be something about how much he had changed, or that he was better, and how he shouldn’t forget to be a hero and honestly? Leonard didn’t want to hear it.

 

Ray grasped his hair and groaned in frustration. “You are so _frustrating_ sometimes, you know that?”

 

Leonard recoiled in shock. Maybe this wouldn’t be the feel good speech he had been expecting, “Listen, boy scout—“ was as far as his got before he was met with a face full of Palmer.

 

His eyes widened in shock, and before he could remember to kiss back Ray had pulled back and was already moving into apology mode. “I’m so sorry, Leonard,” he said, “sometimes I misread situations and I guess I just thought… well I didn’t want to die without doing that at least once and mmph—!“

 

Kissing Raymond, Leonard had decided, was his new favorite past time. He was passionate and furious at the idiot for thinking he could die after kissing Leonard, as if Leonard would _let_ him die after that. He grabbed onto the back of Raymond’s neck, tilting their heads for a better angle.

 

Raymond tasted like red velvet, which coincidentally was Leonard’s new favorite cake flavor. He opened his eyes, and found that he had pushed Raymond into his nearby room, and was already tugging at his shirt.

 

Ray broke the kiss to shrug his sweater off over his head and quickly lunged back in, his hands starting to ball up the cloth at Leonard’s sides. Leonard unwound his arms from around Ray’s neck and tried to push Raymond off of him. “Raymond,” he drawled, trying to sounds cool but coming across as breathless.

 

Ray pulled back immediately, ever the gentleman. His pupils were wide and his lips were swollen, and it took all of Leonard’s willpower to not dive back into kissing him. “Is everything okay, Len?” he asked. “You’re good with all of this, right?”

 

Leonard nodded. “Oh I am _more_ than fine, Boy Scout,” he said, “but the shirt stays on.”

 

Ray cocked his head to the side, as if to ask why. _Because I don’t want you to see my scars_ , he thought to himself _, or the fat, or the pale spots. We can’t all be Maccabees, Raymond_. When Ray opened his mouth, Leonard braced himself for the worst. “Okay,” Ray said, “Whatever you want. I just want you to know that you can trust me.”

 

And then the idiot smiled.

 

Damn it. Leonard _wanted_ to trust Ray so badly, he did, and he wanted to take his shirt off for that stupid, insufferable, almost dead, attractive, gorgeous, funny, kind genius.

 

He sighed and pulled the shirt off himself in one swift movement. The he was reattached to Ray, until he began to work at his belt.

**1**

“It’ll take about two minutes to figure out how to self destruct this thing,” said Ray, already beginning to grab at the wires.

 

Rip nodded stiffly. “We’ll buy you some time. You lot, guard the door. Miss Lance, Mister Snart, you’re with me.”

 

Everyone else turned around to walk towards the door, while Ray continued to fiddle inside the Oculus. Leonard heard the march of time masters behind him and muttered a, “Hurry up, boy scout.”

 

“How much longer?” Rip asked louder.

 

“Well, just about to reverse the polarity matrix,” said Ray, groaning as his glove hit the side of the compartment, “Once I do that I say we have about two minutes before this whole place goes boom.”

 

“How big of a boom?” asked Sara, gearing up for the time masters they knew were coming.

 

“On a scale of one to ten, a googolplex.” Ray groaned, taking a moment to tear off his helmet and gloves, throwing them to the side.

Rip noticed, and immediately turned. “What are you doing?”

 

“I can’t work with all this gear on,” responded Ray.

 

“You can’t,” insisted Rip.

 

“A programmer needs his hands!” Ray said, smiling but a little aggravated.

 

“Ray—“

 

“Don’t worry, I got this!” said Ray, giving a quick thumbs up with his free hand.

 

“No you don’t!” yelled Rip, “this is what I saw! This is what Druce showed me. This is how you die. “

 

Ray leaned back for a moment, before sighing and continuing to work. “It’s okay,” he said, “All my life I’ve wanted to make a difference. Creating a future for you guys without the time masters’ influence, that counts.”

 

Leonard barely had time to register Ray’s decision before he heard lasers coming up from behind him. “That being said,” Ray continued, popping out from behind the box, “I’m in no rush to die, so keep them off me, okay?”

 

“We got you,” affirmed Sara, pulling out her bow staff.

 

They continued to fight and maim while Ray continued to work towards his death. Leonard could barely think until he heard Rip yelp from behind him. He spun around just in time to keep the Brit from falling into the vastness below them. Rip regarded him oddly, causing Leonard to say, “I’m not doing this because I like you.”

 

“Yes, I know,” said Rip, still looking at him.

 

“All right!” interrupted Ray. “Almost done. Uh-oh.”

 

“Uh-oh?” Rip asked, firing another shot at the soldiers ahead of them

 

“There seems to be a failsafe to prevent tampering, which probably includes trying to blow this thing up,” said Ray.

 

“English, Raymond!” yelled Sara, kicking a man into the below.

 

“I have to maintain contact with the failsafe in order to destroy the oculus.”

 

“No that much English,” muttered Leonard.

 

“Get back to the ship,” Ray said.

 

“We are not leaving without you!” Rip insisted.

 

“You’ve already seen the future,” said Ray, “I’m dead already.”

 

“You’re right,” Leonard muttered to himself, beginning to form a plan. “Hey Ray,” he said louder, “Look at me?” Ray turned to meet his eyes. “Any chance I can talk you out of this? Maybe spare your own life, so we can have a future together?” Ray paused for a moment and shook his head. “That’s what I thought,” Leonard sighed.

 

“I’m fine with it, really,” said Ray, “but please, Len, live the best life, live the best life for both of us, okay?” And then he smiled, sad but genuine, and Leonard knew what he had to do.

 

He grabbed onto the back of Ray’s neck and kissed him, hard. Ray immediately reciprocated, and it was the kind of kiss Leonard would have loved to keep longer if there weren’t other things to do. He brought his free hand up to knock Ray on the back of the head with the cold gun, watching as he fell unconscious to the floor. “Sorry, Raymond,” he said, inserting his hand into the machine.

 

With the majority of the soldiers gone, he found Sara looking at him. Rip was crumpled nearby, still breathing. “Get them out of here,” he said.

 

Sara stood up straight and looked at him, a defiant look in her eye. “No.”

 

“Just do it,” Leonard growled, hoping she would catch the message. Sara’s eyes softened as she marched towards him. She rested a hand on his should and grabbed him tightly into a hug before letting go to shrink Ray down. She placed him in her pocket, and then carried Rip over her shoulder.

 

Leonard waited for a few minutes. He had lived a good life, he supposed. He just hoped one of them would remember to tell Lisa. Mick probably would, maybe he would take Ray with him. All the people he loved the most, mourning his death. He chuckled to himself. It was a nice thought.

 

“No!” yelled Master Druce walking into the Oculus room. “Shut it down!” All the weapons cocked, aimed at Leonard. “Shut it down!”

 

The machine began to whirr to life, glowing a soft blue. As the light got harsher, Leonard smirked. “There are no strings on me,” he whispered, just before everything went black.

**0**

 

When Leonard Snart woke up, the only thing he could think about was Lisa. He saw his baby sister all around him, struggling to walk, holding a butterfly in her hand. He noticed an older brown haired woman too, with murder in her eyes and a gun in her hand. _That’s Lisa too_ , a helpful voice in his head reminded him.

 

Then he thought of his best friend. “Mick,” he croaked out. He saw Mick punching a kid at juvie, the two of them pulling off their first heist together. Them and Lisa eating Chinese food after a successful bank robbery. Mick burning himself.

 

Then his mind turned again. “The Flash,” he said aloud, regaining more of his memories, “Barry.” Just as it had before, he was surrounded by scenes of Barry Allen. He could hear a father, one who cared, _Run Barry!_ He heard a best friend, a girlfriend, a fiancée _Barry, I love you, No don’t say that, no!_ A wife.

 

He and Barry were enemies, he remembered, but not quite. _There’s good in you, Snart_. Good, he wasn’t always bad, he was sometimes good. He was immediately assaulted with memories of the Waverider, and travelling through time. There were the hawks, the 70s, cards with Sara, losing Mick, the Old West, Russia, and then he remembered.

 

He whispered “Raymond,” into the void in front of him, and everything focused.

 

 _Live the best life for of us, okay?_ he could see Ray say before continuing to mess with the Oculus. He turned his head and heard a familiar drawl. _Aren’t you the boy scout? Eagle scout, actually_ , came the response.

 

 _It involves a sniper,_ said Ray in a different moment, and changing again, _You get out of town and you don’t come back_.

 

He watched himself steal a wallet, and heard Ray say _really? We’re trying to save the world, and you’re lifting wallets?_

_Greatness,_ Rip had said, and the very first things Leonard hadn’t just listened to but truly heard out of Raymond’s mouth. _I can get behind that_.

 

Then he saw memories he didn’t even know. Ray as a child watching singing in the rain with a small animal in his lap. Then there was Ray as an adult, hugging another man aboard the Waverider, _I thought you were dead!_ He seethed and turned to see Ray running away from a Dinosaur, Ray holding the cold gun and turning to Mick. _Call me Haircut one more time, and I’ll ice you_.

 

He saw Ray building the ATOM suit, he saw Ray proposing to Anna, he saw Ray at her funeral. He saw the beginnings of a fledgling relationship with a blonde girl, a trip to Central City. _We need to stop this bug-eyed woman,_ said a familiar voice, one Leonard couldn’t quite place. _And her bug-eyed bandits_ , responded the voice that was unmistakably Ray’s. _Bug-eyed bandit!_ They said in unison after deciding on the name.

 

“Fucking Cisco,” Leonard muttered.

 

Suddenly the space around him began to shift again, scenes of Cisco popping up and Ray disappearing. “No, no, no, go back, go back!”

 

 _Excuse me?_ he heard Cisco’s voice booming from all around him, _And who the hell are you to be in my head telling me to fuck off?_ Leonard swiveled around to find a scene of Cisco who was staring right at him.

 

Barry, nearby, asked. _Cisco, you okay bud?_

 

Cisco shushed and kept his eyes closed. Suddenly a normal sized, three-dimensional Cisco popped up in front of him. “Snart?” he asked with wide eyes.

 

Leonard smiled. “The one and only.”

 

“How the hell did you end up here? Where is here?”

 

Leonard gritted his teeth. “Blew up the Oculus. Figured this was a side effect. How long have I been gone?”

 

Cisco frowned. “Shit, man,” he said, “you’ve been gone about two years? Real you, I mean. There was old evil you for a while, then old nice you, and then _super_ nice you but he’s back fighting Nazis now—“

 

“So are you here to take me home?” Leonard asked, trying not to let the desperation sound in his voice.

 

Cisco grimaced. “Yeah, about that,” he said, “I don’t know where to take you home from.”

 

 _Cisco_ , Barry asked in the background, still looking at the vision, _Cisco what’s wrong?_

 

“What do you mean? You’re here, you were there, take _me_ there. Not that difficult, Ramon. And how the hell did you even get here in the first place?”

 

Cisco smiled and wiggled his fingers before beginning to speak. “Metahuman now, it’s a long story. Well, I can’t find you. This isn’t a real a real place, and I’m not here. I’m just vibing you, but I can’t open a breach to get you home.”

 

“Great,” muttered Leonard, “just what I need.”

 

“Hey,” said Cisco, “we’ll get you back, I swear. Let me just tell Lisa, Mick, and Ray.”

 

“Ray?” he asked, his head perking up with excitement, “why would you need to tell Ray?”

 

“Dude,” said Cisco, “I don’t know what your deal was, but that boy has _not_ moved on.”

 

“Not even with the pretty boy with the bro-hugs?”

 

Cisco snickered. “Nah man, and Nate’s great. He was very good at helping Ray becoming a functioning human again. But soon he can be just as functioning as he’d like to be, because you’ll be back!”

 

“Hey Cisco, do me a favor?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Tell Lisa and Mick. Don’t tell Ray. I don’t want to get his hopes up.” Cisco nodded and, with a mock salute, disappeared.

 

He watched the space around him to see when Cisco reappeared, gasping and falling to the floor. _Cisco!_ Barry yelled, running just in time to catch him, _what’s wrong?_

 

 _I found Snart,_ he said _, and we’re gonna get him back. Hey Snart? We’re gonna get you back_.

 

Leonard’s mind wandered back to Ray, and the scenes on the wall shifted. “Hopefully soon,” he said, watching him and Ray kiss by the Oculus, before the explosion. “It’s about time I go home.”

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment or kudos to show me you care! holla at me on tumblr : jewishraypalmer.tumblr.com


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